Richard Rose’s Psychology of the Observer The Path to Reality Through the Self

Meditation 209
wondering if there is a reliable, honest approach to Truth that the individual can discern and validate
personally.
The process of meditation Rose advises requires no faith or dogma to practice, and verifies its
legitimacy and relevance in the student’s own experience as he goes along, step by step. It is not
solely an investment or preparation for an all-or-nothing “pay-off” later. Whereas those spiritually
intended disciplines that contain a strong element of fantasy or premeditated manipulation leave the
seeker more or less in the same condition after the flight of fancy is over, the course of inquiry described
here goes in only one direction. If the work is done correctly, one does not come back. One
becomes...different. In addition, while each individual’s “going within” is unique to that person,
there are a number of general principles and themes involved in this search into the self that are
impersonal and apply to everyone.
A few distinctive points about Rose’s approach differentiate it from some other forms of meditation.
As mentioned earlier, one of the most important ground rules is that the person is not to start
out with a preconception of what is to be found at the end of the search, or during the process of
inquiry. One is not to concoct an image of what spirituality or some attractive, higher state is supposed
to be, based on descriptions picked up in books or one’s own desires. The person cannot
honestly know in advance what the goal-state is, and so any conception about it can only be an
imagining.
In this state of imagining, one may well create the experience one expects or demands to find,
even though it is not genuine. The maintenance of this belief-structure and gradual immersion into
its resultant projection unawares then leaves no room for the recognition of the TRUE nature of
things, and the realization of Truth in the non-finite dimension beyond the mind. What instead
happens is that one simulates a condition or state-of-mind of what spirituality is assumed to be, and
this simulation, of what may be an erroneous postulation to begin with, is substituted for true understanding
and discovery. Rose states: “It is necessary to drop all of the egos in order to have a realization
that isn’t colored by relative idealistic thinking” (Rose, 1985, p. 184). By “egos”, he is partially
referring to convictions and identifications which are maintained as distinct psychological entities
obstructing the process of objective inquiry. Also implied is that Reality is not to be regarded as
merely an extension of the best qualities of human nature, within the range of our finite comprehension.
Rose recommends an alternative to creating a chosen mood of peacefulness through the induction
of a self-hypnotic trance, or mimicking “no-mind” by suppressing thoughts through some
mechanical technique of distraction, or indulging in gratifying fantasies of visualization as if they
were genuine experiences. He advises a process of open-ended inquiry and search, rather than belief
and simulation of symptomatology. He urges us to start from zero, and go on from there; in other
words, to start from a point of acknowledged ignorance, and then look honestly for understanding
about the reality of things (including oneself), by seeing what is. This is genuine faith. Genuine
innocence.
Thus, one does not start out meditating by looking for joy, peace, thoughtlessness, Heaven, or
“God.” One starts out by soberly assessing one’s current condition and status, and asking oneself
some important questions: Who or what am I? How does my mind work? Where do my thoughts
and feelings come from? What do I not understand about myself? Are my values working? How has
my conditioning created my life-view and sense of self? What is life on Earth for? What are my
assumptions about life? What are my projections onto life, myself, and others? What are my rationalizations
about religion? What does the reality of inevitable death say about the meaning of my life?